An electrostatic chuck (ESC), a component of semiconductor processing equipment such as plasma etch chambers, can be used for transporting, holding and/or temperature control of a semiconductor wafer or glass substrate (i.e., flat panel display) during processing, for example, in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), or etch reactor. ESCs often exhibit short lifetimes resulting in failures including, for example, dynamic alignment failure, high leakage of helium cooling gas between the ESC and the underside of a supported substrate, increased dechucking time, and sticking of the substrate to the ESC or dechucking failure. The early failure of ESCs can cause substrate breakage, impact throughput, lead to particle and defect issues, and increase ownership costs of plasma processing equipment incorporating such ESCs.